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{\plain \fs32 Coalition for Non-Partisan Redistricting}{\plain \par
}{\plain \fs20 7793 Burnet Rd #37\par
}{\plain \fs20 Austin, TX 78757\par
}{\plain \fs20 512/374-9585\par
}{\plain \fs20 redistrict@constitution.org}{\plain \par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain \fs36 Proposal}{\plain \par
}{\plain for adopting redistricting plans in Texas\par
}\pard \qj
{\plain \par
}{\plain The Legislature would not adopt a specific district map, but would adopt an act specifying the
parameters according to which a computer program would draw the district map.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain The computer program to be used would be Target, a program already written under the aegis of the
Texas Legislative Council, consisting of a random map-generating engine written in Scheme, a
dialect of LISP, with a user interface written in Visual Basic.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain The parameters would be as follows:\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 1. District boundaries would snap to county boundaries, except for counties that are split.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 2. Only counties with a population of 60,000 or greater would be split, and within those counties,
district boundaries would snap to township boundaries if possible.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 3. Each district would have }{\plain \i equal population}{\plain , to within a error of 0.01 percent\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 4. Each district would be }{\plain \i compact}{\plain , defined by minimizing the value of p\'b2/4{\f1 \'42}A for each district,
where p = perimeter, A = area.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 5. Districts would be }{\plain \i contiguous}{\plain , so that any two points are connected by a line that lies entirely
within the district.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 6. Districts would be }{\plain \i simply connected}{\plain , so that any closed loop of points within the district may be
shrunk to a point, so that there are no \'93holes\'94.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 7. There would be no consideration of any other demographic factors than number, such as ethnicity
or voting history.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 8. The program would be run once for a period not to exceed 24 hours, and whatever map it
produced would be the district map for the next election.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 9. Redistricting would be done using the above procedure every two years, in January of a regular
election year, to draw the districts for the next election.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 10. The source code of the Target program would be published on the web site of the Texas
Legislative Council, and made freely available to all persons for examination and use.\par
}{\plain 11. There would be continuing development of the Target program to improve its performance and
usability.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 12. The operation of the program to draw districts would be supervised by the grand jury of the
county in which the State Capital is located, and outside observers would be allowed to verify that
the program had not been compromised.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain \fs32 Legal issues}{\plain \par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 1. The State Constitution requires that the Legislature adopt redistricting plans, but it does not
require that it adopt a bill with a specific map. Adopting a process such as the one described above
to produce a map using a computer arguably satisfies the requirement without the need for a
constitutional amendment. It is not an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to assign
such a task to the impersonal operation of a computer.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 2. The congressional district plan approved by the federal court for the 2002 election is valid only
for that election, and does not remain the plan for subsequent elections in the absence of further
action by the State Legislature.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 3. The federal Voting Rights Act contemplated district plans drawn manually taking voting patterns
into account, and sought to avoid ethnic or political biases to which that method is susceptible.
However, if the parameters for the program are chosen as described above, with no human
intervention, the plan produced should meet the requirements of the Act and of the court precedents
on these issues.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain \fs32 Alternative proposals}{\plain \par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain The main alternative proposal would create a \'93bi-partisan\'94 Redistricting Commission composed of
equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats, with perhaps one tie-breaker member, who would
draw a map and present it to the Legislature for adoption. There are several difficulties with this
proposal that would be avoided in the main proposal for computer-generation of district maps:\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 1. Having the map drawn by such a Redistricting Commission does not avoid the problem that
whatever it draws will be subject to the same kind of contention in the Legislature that has resulted
on maps drawn in other ways. The only way to avoid such divisiveness is to remove the
consideration of a particular map from the Legislature, and leave to them only the adoption of
specifications.\par
}{\plain \par
}{\plain 2. A Redistricting Commission would be an unnecessary expense, because it can\'92t do anything that
can\'92t be better done by the computer program, supervised for the short period it is run by the local
grand jury, which should be selected by sortition, that is, at random, from the community, and whose
only job would be to make sure the operation of the program was not compromised.\par
}{\plain \par
}\pard
{\plain http://www.constitution.org/reform/us/tx/redistrict/cnpr_proposal.htm\par
}{\plain http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/}}